The anchoring and restricting of the movement of a beach blanket, beach towel, and other articles which tend to flip or blow away at the beach has long been an annoying problem. Since there is constant wind movement and directional wind changes, due to land and sea wind patterns at coastal beach areas, blankets, towels and other sheet items, which may be spread out for reclining by a bather, and other articles, such as for example, shirts and blouses, have a tendency to be blown away. In the case of blankets and towels which are stretched out, even though such may not be blown away unless tethered down in some manner, they tend to be flipped over. Numerous devices have been proposed for securing and retaining in place a beach blanket or other sheet material which has been spread out on the sand. Illustrative devices of this kind include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,809,006, 3,237,904, 4,914,767, and 4,927,118. Each known device, including those disclosed in these patents, however, is relatively complex and usually involves moving parts and relatively bulky and is often regarded as a nuisance discouraging portability by the bather. Also, because the known prior art devices are relatively complex, they are generally not economically feasible for the intended use which normally justifies only a minimal expense. Accordingly, there remains a need for a device for holding and restricting the movement of a beach blanket, towel, and the like which is simple in design and has no moving parts to break or malfunction.